Tag Archives: Satellite tracking

Over the past week, the young male orca K-33 and presumably most
of K pod has traveled out to the Pacific Ocean and down the
Washington Coast into Oregon.

The 15-year-old named Tika has been carrying a satellite
transmitter since New Year’s Eve. A week ago, Tika and the other K
pod whales were in the northern portion of the Strait of Georgia in
Canada. See
Water Ways, Jan. 7, and NOAA’s
Satellite Tagging page, Jan. 7.

Orca travels, Jan. 7-12 //
NOAA map

On Thursday, Jan. 7, the whales turned to the south and by the
next evening they were headed through the San Juan Islands,
reaching the ocean late Saturday. On Sunday, the whales spent most
of the day near Swiftsure Bank, a well-known ocean fishing area on
the U.S.-Canada border, then headed south along the coast.

After pausing briefly near the Hoh River and again near Grays
Harbor, the whales reached the mouth of the Columbia River on
Tuesday. They didn’t stop there but continued south into Oregon.
Midday on Wednesday, they were off Depoe Bay. They reached the
Umpqua River yesterday and by this morning were rounding Cape
Blanco in Southern Oregon.

Orca travels, Jan. 12-14 //
NOAA map

“This southerly excursion in January is similar to what we
observed in 2013 when we had K-25 tagged,” noted Brad Hanson, who
is heading up the study for NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science
Center. See his
2013 blog and
notes from this year’s tagging program.

On a related topic, Ken Balcomb and other researchers for the
Center for Whale Research have been getting out on the water more
this winter to observe both resident (fish-eaters) and transient
(seal-eaters) killer whales. I enjoyed listening to his description
of the latest encounter with the two groups of transients on
Wednesday. Ken offers a voice-over while shooting video on the
water as well as later at the center while identifying the whales.
As he describes, the encounter took place near Kelp Reefs in the
northern portion of Haro Strait (west of San Juan Island). Watch
the video on the website of the Center for Whale
Research.

This year’s research project tracing the movements of Southern
Resident killer whales has ended after 96 days of tracking L-84, a
25-year-old male named Nyssa.

Nyssa (L-84) and his entourage
traveled north into Canadian waters the first week of May. //
NOAA map

It was the longest period of tracking among the Southern
Residents since the satellite-tagging studies began in 2012. The
transmitter carried by L-84 lasted three days longer than a similar
deployment on K-25 in 2013. The satellite tags, which are attached
to the dorsal fins of the whales with darts, often detach after
about a month.

The nice thing about this year’s study is that it covered the
entire month of April and much of May, according to Brad Hanson,
project supervisor for NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center.
That tells the researchers something about the movement of the
whales later in the year than previous deployments have
revealed.

A satellite tag on J-27 (Blackberry) in late December extended
the total tracking period to more than four months.

Looking back through the
tracking maps since February, it is clear that L-84 and his
entourage have spent much of their time moving up and down the
Washington and Oregon coasts. They seem to favor hanging out near
the mouth of the Columbia River. On a few occasions, they have
ventured into Northern California.

The whales quickly returned to
the U.S., ending the tracking project when the satellite tag fell
off near the Columbia River. // NOAA
map

On May 6, they took their only jaunt north into Canadian waters,
reaching Estavan Point (halfway up Vancouver Island) two days
later. They continued north another day, nearly reaching Brooks
Peninsula (about three-fourths up Vancouver Island) on May 9. Then
they headed back south, ending this year’s tracking program near
the Columbia River.

Just before the satellite tag fell off, biologists from Cascadia
Research Collective caught up with the whales on May 21 south of
the Columbia River. The researchers noticed that the tag was
loosening, and no further satellite signals were picked up.

The tracking studies, combined with efforts to collect samples
of feces and fish remains, are designed to identify where the
whales are spending their time in winter months and what they are
finding to eat when salmon are more scarce. All of this could lead
to a major expansion of their designated “critical habitat” and
increased protections in coastal waters. As of now, critical
habitat for the whales does not extend into the ocean, and NOAA has
concluded that more information is needed before changing the
designated protection area.

Within the next month or so, all three Southern Resident pods
should head into Puget Sound, congregating in the San Juan Islands,
as chinook salmon return to Canada’s Fraser River and other streams
in the Salish Sea.

Meanwhile, J pod seems to be hanging out in waters around the
San Juans, possibly waiting for the other pods to show up. Plenty
of observers have been filing some great reports and related photos
with
Orca Network.

That link also includes recent reports of seal-eating transient
killer whales that have traveled as far south as the
Bremerton-Seattle area, perhaps farther. A few humpback whales have
been sighted in northern Puget Sound.

L-84, a 25-year-old male orca named Nyssa, has been carrying a
satellite transmitter for more than two months now, allowing
researchers to track the movements of Nyssa and any whales
traveling with him.

Typical of recent travels by
L-84 and his entourage, the whales traveled north and south of the
Columbia River from April 14 to 20. // NOAA
map

Nyssa, the last survivor of his immediate family, tends to stay
around L-54, a 38-year-old female named Ino, and Ino’s two
offspring, L-108 (Coho) and L-117 (Keta). Often, other members of L
pod are with him, and sometimes K pod has been around as well,
according to observers.

The satellite tracking is part of an effort to learn more about
the three pods of Southern Resident killer whales, which are listed
as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act. That means they
are headed for extinction without changes that increase their rate
of survival.

The Navy, which has long been training off the West Coast, has
been supporting some of the research in hopes of finding ways to
reduce inadvertent harm from its active training in that area,
officials say.

Over the past week, the whales
moved well offshore near Grays Harbor, then returned to waters at
the entrance of the Columbia River. // NOAA
map

Since L-84 was tagged on Feb. 17, the whales have been generally
traveling up and down the Washington and Oregon coasts. At various
times, researchers — including biologists from Cascadia Research —
have been able to get close enough to collect fecal samples from
the whales and scales from fish they are eating. The goal is to
determine their prey selection at this time of year. Chinook salmon
are their fish of choice, but they will eat other species as
well.

Winter storms and waves create challenging conditions to study
the whales, but the satellite-tagging program has helped
researchers find them, said Brad Hanson, who is leading the study
for NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

Brad told me that he is thrilled that the satellite tag on L-84
has remained in operation so long, allowing more and more data to
be collected. Satellite tags are designed to fall off after a time,
and the compact batteries will eventually run out of juice.

“This is the latest (in the season) that we have had a tag on a
Southern Resident,” Brad said. “Who knows how long it will last?
The battery will probably make it until the end of May, and the
attachment looked good the last anyone saw the tag.”

The research is not just about figuring out where the whales
travel, Brad said. It is about finding out which areas are
important to them.

While tracking the whales by satellite, the research is being
expanded with the use of acoustic recording devices deployed in key
locations along the coast. The goal is to find ways to track the
whales with less intrusion. But how does one know where they are
located during periods when the whales go silent — sometimes for
days at a time? Those are the kind of questions that researchers
hope to answer by correlating the acoustic and satellite data
together, Brad said.

With Navy funding, 17 recorders are now deployed along the
coast, including one recorder many miles offshore to pick up whales
that get out into the deep ocean.

“We have certainly reduced a lot of the mystery,” Brad said.
“The main issue — and what the Navy is interested in — is how they
mitigate for marine mammal presence.”

Knowing that killer whales can be silent, the Navy has largely
relied on visual sightings to determine the presence of the
animals. During high waves, that may not be a reliable method of
detection. The answer, based on tracking the whales, could be to
move the training operations farther offshore — beyond the
continental shelf, since the Southern Residents appear to rarely go
out that far.

The Southern Residents are among the most studied marine mammals
in the world, yet it is not entirely clear why their population is
not recovering. An upcoming effort will begin to look at whether
new information about the health condition of the whales can be
teased out of existing fecal and biopsy samples or if new methods
of study are needed to assess their health.

Meanwhile, raw data from various studies continue to pour in,
challenging NOAA researchers to focus on specific questions,
complete their analyses and share the findings in scientific
reports. According to Brad, ongoing staff cutbacks makes that final
step even harder than it has been in the past.

UPDATE, Jan. 30, 2 p.m.
K pod was in Rich Passage and heading toward Bremerton when I
talked to Brad Hanson of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. He
did not know the location of J pod at that time.
—–

Over the past week, J pod continued to hang out in the Strait of
Juan de Fuca and general San Juan Islands area, as revealed by a
satellite transmitter attached to J-27, a 24-year-old male named
Blackberry.

For the past month, J pod has remained in the inland waterways,
traveling from the mouth of the Strait up into the Canadian Strait
of Georgia, approaching Campbell River. J pod is one of the three
orca pods that frequent Puget Sound. The location of K and L pods
remains largely unknown among whale researchers.

From Wednesday, Jan. 21, to Friday, Jan. 23, the pod stayed
mainly in the outer portion of the Strait of Juan de Fuca west of
Sekiu, venturing a short way into the open ocean, before turning
back and shooting up past Saturna Island, north of the San Juans,
by the next afternoon.

J pod travels, Jan. 24-27Map: Northwest Fisheries Science Center

The whales traveled south through the San Juans Saturday night
and were back in the Strait on Sunday. At that point, the satellite
tag was automatically switched off to conserve its batteries. When
it came back on Tuesday, the whales were at the entrance to the
Strait of Juan de Fuca, where they meandered about for nearly for a
day.

As of this afternoon, there were indications that J pod and
possibly K pod were coming past Port Townsend on their way into
Puget Sound. Some people are reporting visual sightings of
unidentified orcas, while others are reporting orca calls on the
Salish Sea Hydrophone
Network. I’ll update this as new information comes in. Orca Network’s
Facebook page is usually the place to go for the latest.

The young killer whale born into J pod three weeks ago still
appears to be doing well, according to Dave Ellifrit of the Center
for Whale Research, who observed the calf when her pod came through
the San Juan Islands on Monday.

The new calf, J-50, has been
sticking close to J-16, a 43-year-old female and her likely
mom.Photo by Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale
Research

In his written notes, Dave said the calf, designated J-50, was
staying close to J-16, a 43-year-old female named “Slick.”
Meanwhile, Slick’s daughter, 16-year-old J-36 or Alki, remained
some distance away.

Uncertainty has surrounded the question of whether J-16 is the
mother or the grandmother of the new calf. If she’s the mother, it
will be the first time that an orca over 40 has been known to give
birth, at least among the three pods that frequent Puget Sound.

There remains a little matter of the “rake marks” on the back of
the baby orca — most likely caused when an adult whale used its
teeth to pull the newborn from the birth canal. A 16-year-old
female might need some help during delivery, Ken explained, and the
grandmother was the likely one to assist. Such help probably would
not be needed for an older mom, he said.

Jan.
12-15.Satellite tracking reveals that J pod came back from
the ocean on Monday, Jan. 12, and traveled through the Strait of
Juan de Fuca, reaching Victoria the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 13.
The orcas passed the San Juan Islands overnight and reached the
northeast side of Texada Island the morning of Thursday, Jan. 15.
// Map courtesy of NOAA

I thought that the proof of motherhood would come when we knew
who was nursing the baby. While nobody has directly observed any
nursing behavior over the past three weeks, the baby is fattening
up and staying near enough to J-16 to allow such things to
happen.

But Ken says it is possible that J-16 could be lactating — even
if she is the grandmother. It’s happened in older pilot whales, he
noted.

“It is not beyond the realm of possibility that a grandmother
could play the nurse-maid role,” he said.

Jan. 15-17.
The whales continued north of Texada Island, then turned around and
passed the island going south. // Map courtesy of
NOAA

There will be no certainty about the lineage, he said, until
genetic testing is performed, and that could take years — assuming
the calf survives. Such tests could come as the result of fecal
sampling or a skin biopsy performed by approved researchers
following the whales, he said.

Meanwhile, since the calf was born, J pod has been moving around
the inland waterways and well up into the Strait of Georgia in
Canada, as revealed by a satellite transmitter carried by J-27, a
24-year-old named Blackberry.

Jan. 17-21.
The J pod whales traveled south from Texada Island and passed
through the San Juan Islands by Monday afternoon of this week. From
there, they made a straight run to the ocean, then turned around on
Tuesday and headed back by yesterday afternoon — this time
accompanied by K pod, according to observers. // Map
courtesy of NOAA

A couple times in the past two weeks, the whales went through
the Strait of Juan de Fuca and into the Pacific Ocean. But each
time they quickly turned around and came back,

Last night, Mark Malleson of Prince of Whales, a whale-watching
company, observed J pod along with K pod spread out in the Strait
of Juan de Fuca near Sheringham Point near the south tip of
Vancouver Island, according to his report posted on Orca Network’s Facebook
page.

So far today, I have not heard any more reports, and the next
satellite data won’t be available until later.

The succession of maps on this page shows the travels of J pod
since they touched the outer coast 10 days ago. (Click on the
images to enlarge.)

J pod crossed the Canadian border and came into Puget Sound over
this past weekend, allowing Brad Hanson and his fellow researchers
to meet up with whales.

Brad, of NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, was able to
locate the killer whales from a satellite transmitter attached to
J-27, a 24-year-old male named Blackberry.

As you can see from the chart, the whales swam south, then
turned back north near Vashon and Maury islands. The researchers
met up with them Saturday morning on their return trip past
Seattle’s Elliott Bay, according to an update on the
project’s website.

The newest baby in J pod, designated J-50, was spotted with
J-16, according to the report from Hanson and crew. Other reports
have indicated that J-36 was also nearby, so it appears that the
new calf’s mother still is not certain. Researchers agree that the
mom is either J-36, a 15-year-old orca named Alki, or else Alki’s
mother — 42-year-old J-16, named Slick.

The researchers collected scraps of fish left behind by the
orcas’ hunting activities. Fecal samples also were collected. Those
various samples will help determine what the whales were
eating.

Orca Network published photos taken by whale observers near
Edmonds north of Seattle as well as from Point No Point in North
Kitsap.

Yesterday, J pod headed out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The
map shows them at the entrance to the strait going toward the ocean
at 6:15 this morning.

Orca Network reports that K and L pods apparently headed into
Canada’s Strait of Georgia on Friday, as J pod moved into Puget
Sound. It sounds like the two pods missed each other. We’ll see if
they meet up in the next few days.

Meanwhile, at least one group of transient killer whales has
been exploring South Puget Sound for more than 50 days, according
to the Orca Network report. That’s a rare occurrence indeed. A
second group of transients has been around for much of that time as
well.

Tracking J pod for 30 days — mostly during the month of January
— lends support for the idea that this group of Southern Resident
killer whales strongly depends on the inland waters of the Salish
Sea, perhaps more so than K and L pods.

A satellite transmitter was attached to L-87, a 22-year-old male
orca named Onyx who has been spending his time with J pod. The
tracking effort is part of a study to determine where the whales
travel in winter. While one month of tracking doesn’t prove much,
it is interesting to know that J pod can hang out for days around
Texada Island in the Strait of Georgia without being noticed.

The following video, courtesy of the Northwest Fisheries
Science Center, depicts travels of the whales from Dec. 26, when
the tag was attached, to Jan. 23, when the tag apparently fell
off.

The tracks end just as the orcas seem to be leaving the Strait
of Juan de Fuca, but so far we don’t know if they continued or
turned back.

When the whales moved into Central and South Puget Sound, as
shown by the satellite tracks, observers watching from shore and on
ferries reported the whales each time, noted Brad Hanson, who is
leading the tracking study for the NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries
Science Center. On the other hand, the whales were infrequently
reported while in the Strait of Georgia and Strait of Juan de Fuca,
he said.

“One thing that was interesting to see,” he noted, “is that the
movements are completely different from what they do in
summer.”

In summer, J pod often moves north into Canada but not much
beyond the Fraser River near Vancouver. These winter travels show
the J pod moves farther north and stays in the northern part of the
Strait of Georgia for extended periods of time.

What they are finding there to eat has not been fully studied,
but some percentage of chinook salmon reared in local waters are
known to stay inside the Salish Sea, never swimming out to the
ocean.

Past studies based on recorded killer whale calls have shown
that J pod moves into the open Pacific Ocean on occasion, but the
whales rarely travel very far down the coast. The recording
equipment was moved this winter to strategic locations to better
distinguish how far south J pod travels in winter, Brad said.

Over the next couple months, researchers will continue to look
for opportunities to attach tags to killer whales, he said. A
cruise aboard a large research vessel in March will attempt to
follow the Southern Residents, identify their feeding areas and
determine what they are eating in the ocean.

For the past 10 days, L-87, and presumably J pod, seemed happy
to just hang out around Texada Island in Canada’s Strait of
Georgia. Then they headed south around the southern end of
Vancouver Island and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, according to
researchers with the NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

As of this morning, the killer whales had just entered the open
ocean, as shown in the map on this page.

L-87, a 22-year-old male orca who travels with J pod, has been
tracked by satellite since Dec. 26, when researchers attached a
transmitter to his dorsal fin in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. See
Water Ways, Jan. 3, 2014.

UPDATE, Jan 9
L-87 and presumably J pod never headed out to the Pacific Ocean
after going into the Strait of Juan de Fuca last week. Instead,
they stayed around the area for a day and a half before heading up
Haro Strait, spending at least two days around Canada’s Texada
Island. That was similar to the previous trip up through the Strait
of Georgia. Check out the
latest map by the Northwest Fisheries Science Center.
—–

Killer whale researchers are using satellites to track the
movements of J pod this year, as part of an ongoing effort to
understand where Puget Sound’s orcas travel in winter.

The day after Christmas, a satellite transmitter was attached to
L-87, a 22-year-old male. The whale, named “Onyx,” has been
traveling with J pod for at least three years.

Researchers caught up with the pod Dec. 26 in the Strait of Juan
de Fuca, where the satellite tag was attached by shooting a dart
into L-87’s dorsal fin.

Brad Hanson, a researcher with Northwest Fisheries Science
Center, said less in known about the winter movements of J pod than
either K or L pods — even though J pod has a history of spending
more time in Puget Sound than the others.

As you can see from the map, the orcas traveled up into the
Strait of Georgia in British Columbia, circling Texada Island
before returning to Seattle. As of Wednesday night, the whales were
about halfway down the Strait of Juan de Fuca on their way to the
outer coast. Maps and other information about the tracking project
can be found on the blog titled
“2014 Southern Resident Killer Whale Satellite Tagging.”

Hanson and his crew went out to meet the whales off Edmonds on
New Year’s Day and collected fish scales and fecal samples the
orcas left behind. By analyzing the samples, researchers hope to
learn what kinds of fish the whales are eating.

As we’ve discussed, 2013 was an unusual year for all three
Southern Resident pods, which spent less time than usual in the San
Juan Islands during the summer followed by shorter trips into South
Puget Sound during the fall.

Brad, who has been in discussions with salmon experts,
speculated that a low run of summer chinook to the Fraser River in
Canada coupled with stronger-than-usual chinook runs off the
Columbia River may have diverted the orcas to the ocean for longer
periods,. They made occasional hunting trips to inland waters in
search of prey.

Whether this unusual pattern will continue probably depends on
salmon abundance this summer and fall. The Southern Residents have
a strong preference for chinook salmon, but they are known to shift
to chum in the fall.

Another new method of locating whales in winter has been the
deployment of seven acoustic recorders along the West Coast, from
Central California to the northwest corner of Washington. Hanson
and his associates recently reported results from a
five-year study of killer whale recordings along the coast.

Different groups of orcas can be distinguished by their unique
calls, or dialects. Southern Residents, in general, were picked up
on the recorder most often off the Columbia River and Westport,
where they were probably preying on salmon bound for the Columbia
River.

One goal of all these studies is to determine whether “critical
habitat” for the orcas should be protected outside of Puget Sound.
Coastal areas, including areas near the Columbia River, would seem
to be good candidates for increased protection for the endangered
Southern Residents. Their numbers have dwindled from 97 to 80
animals over the past eight years.

Out of 131 detections on the recorders, J pod was identified 25
times — all on recorders stationed at Cape Flattery at the entrance
to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Meanwhile, K and L pods showed up
more often in waters off Southwest Washington, suggesting that the
three pods may be going their own ways in winter, with J pod
staying farther north. This idea could be supported with the latest
satellite tracking of J pod.

Later, researchers discovered that one of the two darts on the
tag attached to K-25 was still in place after the transmitter fell
off. This was not something seen during extensive testing before
deployment, Brad Hanson told me. He suspects that the transmitter
was knocked off, perhaps by another whale. Nobody knows how long
the dart will remain in place.

Since then, the tag was redesigned with a circular tab at the
base of each dart. Now, if a transmitter comes off, the tab will
exert drag through the water and help pull out any remaining
darts.

While researchers track L-87 and J pod, they will look for
opportunities to tag another K or L pod whale to compare this
year’s movements to the long travels of last winter. The research
team has scheduled a cruise for mid-March to follow the whales and
collect additional prey samples.

It looks like K-25 and his companions did a little zig-zagging
yesterday, also turning south and then north again. The
latest report from this morning shows them near Coos Bay.
—–

UPDATE, Jan. 16, 2013

K pod crossed the Oregon border yesterday on their way back
north. The latest satellite data from this morning places the orcas
near Port Orford, Ore., according to an
update from Robin Baird of Cascadia Research, who is helping
with the tracking effort.
—–

UPDATE, Jan. 15, 2013

After turning around at Point Reyes Friday night, K pod has
proceeded north. The latest satellite data from this morning showed
the whales at Crescent City, Calif., about 20 miles from the Oregon
border. The orcas are still traveling north, but will they come
back to Puget Sound?
—–

Killer whale experts were anticipating yesterday that K pod
might make it to Monterey Bay and perhaps a little farther south,
as I described in a story in
this morning’s Kitsap Sun.

Everyone was wondering exactly where these whales would linger
and where they would eventually turn around and return north.

Robin Baird of Cascadia Research Collective reported this
morning that satellite data showed that the whales had turned
around last night after reaching Point Reyes, which is north of San
Francisco Bay. They continued rapidly north, reaching Bodega Bay
this morning.

Where K pod will travel next is anyone’s guess. But, if we’ve
learned anything through the years about Southern Residents, we
know that they will remain unpredictable. I’ll keep reporting their
travels as long as they seem interesting.